ITK Daily | November 16
Dictator, Stopgap, News, Kevin Hart, FIFA, plus 1,000 more actionable insights.
ITK Daily is geopolitical business intelligence for communications pros.
Happy Thursday.
Here’s today’s ITK Daily.
To be ITK, know this:
*** Globalization + Statecraft ***
Reuters: Qatar seeking Israel-Hamas deal to free 50 hostages and 3-day truce
Hamas agrees to tentative deal to free dozens of hostages, pending Israel’s approval: WP reports Hamas wants a multiday pause in fighting, increased humanitarian aid, and freedom for an unknown number of Palestinians in Israeli jails in exchange for the release of at least 50 women and children being held in Gaza.
Bloomberg: US is quietly sending Israel more ammunition, missiles
+ Supplying shells for Apache gunships, bunker-buster munitions
+ Arms arrive on a ‘near-daily basis,’ Defense Department says
+ A US Navy destroyer shot down a drone launched from Yemen that was “heading in the direction of the ship” operating in the Red Sea,
+ A new Reuters/Ipsos poll out today shows that only 31 percent of Americans support sending weapons to Israel, with 43 percent opposed to the idea.
Joe Biden defies pressure to give Israel deadline to end campaign against Hamas: FT reports the US president says war will end when militant group no longer has the capacity to ‘murder’ and ‘abuse.’
Germany suggests UN take control in Gaza after Israel-Hamas war ends: Politico reports Palestinian envoy in Brussels slams Berlin’s plan as ‘unacceptable.’
Xi tells Biden ‘planet Earth is big enough’ for both the US and China: NYT reports the relationship between the United States and China is at a 40-year low, and American officials have tried to minimize expectations about what concrete commitments might emerge from the leaders’ first meeting in a year.
Xi to Biden: Despite tensions, ‘turning our backs on each other’ not an option: High-stakes summit between the two leaders comes a year after their last face-to-face meeting. Politico
Biden and Xi meet face-to-face for first time in a year: The two leaders hope to cool US-China tensions at a time of global turmoil, but many flash points remain. WP
TST: Biden, Xi pledge to reduce tensions at summit
Biden, Xi agree on resuming military talks and curbing fentanyl at 'productive' summit: Le Monde reports following their first in-person meeting in a year, US President Biden and China's Xi Jinping pledged on Wednesday to stabilize their strained relationship, yet there were deep differences on economic competition and global security threats.
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping agree to resume high-level military communication: US and China pledge co-operation to control drug trafficking and more commercial flights. FT
US and China agree to resume military talks. Takeaways from the Biden-Xi summit CNBC
US and China agree to boost green energy in climate action ‘gesture’: FT reports co-operation viewed as positive sign ahead of COP28 despite lack of commitment on the phaseout of fossil fuels.
After meeting with Xi, Biden hails talks on fentanyl and communication: NYT reports the president concluded his remarks by affirming his characterization of the Chinese leader as a dictator. He also emphasized his continued support for Israel.
Bloomberg: Biden touts progress with Xi, even as ‘dictator’ comment risks backlash
Biden calls Xi 'dictator' after choreographed country house summit: US and China agree to dialogue on AI and drugs, but off-hand remark risks souring ties. Nikkei
+ "After today, would you still refer to President Xi as a dictator?" asks a reporter.
"Look, he is. He's a dictator in the sense that he's a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that's based on a form of government totally different than ours," says President Biden.
Biden and Xi meet at a backdrop for Hollywood and tech-titan weddings: The meeting took place at a giant 20th-century estate built by a family that made its fortune in the gold boom. NYT
The rise and fall of the world’s most successful joint venture: China and the US both gained from their economic integration. As they pull apart, each is finding it will be hard to fully replace the other. NYT
The big, quiet issue Biden and Xi are avoiding: Both countries are beefing up their nuclear arsenals but so far aren’t talking about it. Politico
US, Philippines to finalize intel-sharing pact to counter China: Nikkei reports Washington pledges backing in the South China Sea ahead of Biden-Xi meeting.
AP: North Korea says it tested new solid-fuel engines for intermediate-range ballistic missiles
Bloomberg: China’s Xi set to meet Japan’s Kishida after a year of wrangling
Taiwan’s opposition parties have agreed to run a joint campaign in January’s election, raising the chances that a more China-friendly government takes power in Taipei.
Chicken rice, selfies, and geopolitics: Silicon Valley Singaporeans enjoy an evening with PM Lee TST
Is Indonesia finally set to become an economic superpower? President Joko Widodo has overseen an era of strong growth and rapid development. In an interview, he reveals far larger ambitions. FT
Frozen Russian assets must be used to rebuild Ukraine: Kyiv would like to recover, as compensation, roughly €300 billion in Russian assets frozen under sanctions against Moscow following the start of the invasion of Ukraine. Julien Bouissou
UK inflation down: The number has fallen to its lowest level for nearly two years at 4.6% from 12 months to October.
+ The UK government’s plan to send refugees to Rwanda has been deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Rishi Sunak performs delicate balancing act in Big Tech lobbying battle: The UK has caved in to some of Big Tech’s demands on its landmark competition bill but not its key ask. Politico
David Cameron is back. It’s a miracle — but will it work? Quentin Letts
Bloomberg: Sanchez says he needs a new term in Spain to stop the far right
+ Spanish premier aims to clinch new mandate on Thursday
+ Lawmakers in Madrid will vote on Sanchez after a two-day debate
Iceland under threat from Fagradalsfjall volcano: Le Monde reports 3,700 residents of the town of Grindavik have been evacuated, and work is underway to protect the geothermal power station that supplies Reykjavik with electricity. The timing of the possible eruption remains uncertain.
Human smugglers exploit social media oversharing to recruit coyotes: Cartel-backed networks are using Snapchat, TikTok, and other apps to entice drivers into transporting migrants. Bloomberg
Argentina's conservatives gamble for survival on odd couple Milei and Macri: Reuters reports Javier Milei shot to prominence lambasting Argentina's traditional political elite. Now, the radical presidential election frontrunner is the mainstream conservatives' best shot at clinging onto power.
*** Politics + Elections ***
Senate sends Biden stopgap funding bill, averting a government shutdown: NYT reports, but Republican hard-liners rebelled again in the House, underscoring serious difficulties ahead for a long-term federal funding deal.
NH sets presidential primary date for Jan. 23, defying Biden’s new primary order: NBC News reports the state’s first-in-the-nation GOP primary will come after Iowa, but New Hampshire Democrats will face punishment from the DNC for leapfrogging South Carolina.
CNN: Biden faces a warning sign from younger voters critical to his coalition
How Trump and his allies plan to wield power in 2025: Donald J. Trump and his allies are already laying the groundwork for a possible second Trump presidency, forging plans for an even more extreme agenda than his first term. NYT
The elusive soft landing is coming into view: WSJ reports inflation news has been better than expected, and there is no sign of recession, but consumers are starting to pull back.
Behind CNN turmoil, a series of shattered friendships: David Zaslav, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Discovery, was friends with some of the network’s biggest names. That didn’t matter when their jobs were on the line. NYT
*** Disruption + Innovation ***
Reuters: Target forecasts strong holiday-quarter profit on lower inventory levels, supply-chain costs
New York sues PepsiCo over plastic pollution: FT reports the state’s lawsuit demands the drinks maker reduce the quantity of waste and pay for environmental damage.
Renault sets out targets for EV unit, won't sell it cheap: Reuters reports the French car maker Renault said its electric vehicles unit Ampere would see revenue more than treble to 10 billion euros ($10.8 billion) in 2025 as it sought to fire up doubtful investors ahead of a planned market listing of the business next year.
GM’s new contract with UAW faces surprisingly stiff opposition: NYT reports many longstanding General Motors workers have been voting against the tentative accord, which they feel insufficiently improves retirement benefits.
How Sam Altman is pushing OpenAI into the ‘Big Tech’ pantheon: The ChatGPT maker was launched as a nonprofit building AI to benefit humanity, but lately it’s taking a page from Big Tech playbook. WP
CNBC: Microsoft is fine avoiding China as US considers national security implications, CEO Satya Nadella says
+ Microsoft isn’t focused on China as a domestic market but does do business with Chinese companies operating outside the country, CEO Satya Nadella said.
+ The Chinese government reportedly pushed agencies and state-backed companies
to move away from the Windows operating system last year.
+ “We are mostly focused on the global market ex-China,” Nadella told CNBC’s Jon Fortt during Microsoft’s Ignite conference in Seattle.
Microsoft launches AI chips as developers seek Nvidia alternatives: FT reports new processors designed for OpenAI’s GPT models will be deployed in its Azure data centers next year.
New breed of supercomputer aims for the two quintillion mark: That’s two billion billion operations a second, enough to explore the brain and discover drugs. WSJ
If you created a Bitcoin wallet before 2016, your money may be at risk: A company that helps recover cryptocurrency discovered a software flaw putting as much as $1 billion at risk from hackers. Now it’s going public in hopes people will move their money before they get robbed. WP
Why the Pentagon is spending billions to bring laser weapons to the battlefield CNBC
From TV to TikTok, how we get the news is changing fast: As social media and phones grow to dominate news coverage, people are consuming just as much news as ever. WP
Best books of 2023 — Economics: Martin Wolf selects his best reads of the second half of 2023. FT
*** Culture ***
WP: Kevin Hart to receive Mark Twain Prize in March at Kennedy Center
The Times: French critics pour scorn on Napoleon film for ‘playing fast and loose with history’
*** Sport ***
So you want to be a Formula One fan Emily Leibert
Bloomberg: Soft ticket sales, little suspense spoil Formula 1’s Las Vegas debut
+ Owner Liberty Media says start-up costs will crimp profits
+ There’s less drama, due to driver Max Verstappen’s dominance
+ TV viewership of F1 is down 8% in the US this year
+ Netflix viewership of drive to survive is down globally.
FOS: Formula 1 Las Vegas ticket prices falling from great heights
+ In the last two months, average list prices for a three-day ticket to the event have dropped 28% to $3,091 on the secondary market.
Is this a blip because races aren’t competitive, or has the F1 juggernaut finally peaked?
Netflix takes a swing at live sport: A celebrity golf tournament could tee up something bigger. Economist
The Dallas Stars want to be part of NHL’s Mexico movement FOS
+ The NHL shortlisted Mexico City as a future host city, and the Dallas Stars want to take part and build a fanbase there, per the Dallas Morning News.
+ The league continues its strategy outside of North America too, highlighted by the Global Series returning to Sweden this weekend.
Monumental, owning teams and a network, charts new course for sports TV WP
Inside man: How FIFA guided the World Cup to Saudi Arabia: FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, cheered a plan to take soccer’s richest event to the kingdom. He has said little about his years of work to make that happen. NYT
Manchester City, the Premier League’s dominant team for much of the past decade, announced on Wednesday it had spent more on player salaries last season than any team in British soccer history, paying out more than $500 million.
Enjoy the ride + plan accordingly.
-Marc
Marc A. Ross | Chief Communications Strategist @ Caracal
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